Panasonic DVD-LV70 7 in. Portable DVD Player

I bought this to use exclusively for traveling. I fly a lot and the airlines just don't entertain you anymore on domestic flights. I found a used one on eBay for a Buy-it-now price of $350, so I snatched it up.

I immediately was blown away with the quality of the picture and the long battery life. It used to be that when I traveled by plane, it was a drag. Now I really look forward to getting on the plane, and 7 minutes after takeoff I'm enjoying a nice movie while my other fellow passengers are trying to endure the trip in the cattle-car like conditions that have become the norm now.

Also, because of 9-11, you have to arrive early at airports because of security checks. After I clear security and arrive at my gate I sit back and start watching a movie under headphones until boarding time. I'm not bothered by whining children or loud talking passengers. I'm in my own little world (or so my wife says).

You'll need some good headphones. I'd suggest some noise cancelling ones that fold up for easy traveling. I got a pair of Aiwa HP-Cn5's off eBay (used) for $30.00 and they really do help drown out engine noise of a jet, allowing you to hear more details.

Whenever I start watching a movie on the plane, invariably people around me are fascinated, even the flight attendants. Panasonic ought to be paying me because I'll bet I've initiated dozens of people to buy these after seeing mine. I also carry a second set of headphones with a Y adapter just in case I want to share my movie experience with someone else. 2 people can watch a movie on the screen pretty good without much side viewing distortion.

I originally bought a laptop with DVD so that I could do watch DVD's, but even with a state of the art Apple G4 Titanium computer the battery would die after an hour and forty-five minutes. Before even one movie ended. Drag! The LV-70's battery lasts almost 5 hours for me, without dimming the screen. Panasonics are the ONLY DVD players to consider in this regard. All others have weenier battery lifes.

I also bought a spare battery ($75-125 eBay), but to be honest, I haven't used it on a flight because the regular battery lasts so long. When I get to my destination I usually check into a hotel, flip on the hotel TV, surf the crappy channels they offer, then plug in the charger/AC adapter and watch another movie or two when I have some down time. I wish it would charge the battery while you're watching a DVD, but you can't have everything. But I let her charge when I'm sleeping.

The only negative would be that for some reason every now and then the LV70 will give me an error message that it cannot play a DVD. Even though I played the same DVD last week in it. I buy almost all my DVD's off eBay (half are used) and usually I just take the offending DVD out, clean it with a moist cloth and it'll play fine again. Weird.

I've bought around 90 DVD's in the last year, and it only had trouble with around 4 or 5. And even those eventually played on the unit. Portable DVD players do not track as well as stand alone units, that's for sure.

Some reviewer said the surround sound does not work on these with headphones. Well mine does fine.

The buttons on the unit are kinda small, and it's hard to get a grip on FF or Rew - it either reviews too fast or too slow for me. I just watch the actual time elapsing on the display to estimate when to stop.

I probably will keep this and eventually get a 9 or 10" screen player that will read DVD-R's and RW's, since I will probably record movies & TV programs onto DVD in the future. But I gotta tell ya, this is a great toy to have and it makes traveling more fun.